


Falling

by aeternamente



Series: Time and Space [3]
Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 01:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2091564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeternamente/pseuds/aeternamente
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And now they were staring at each other, and something was tugging from behind Pedro’s ribs, and he quite suddenly realized that he was mere moments away from kissing his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling

On Monday afternoon, Pedro had student council. It started half an hour after school got out, because people often had things to take care of directly after school, and it was better for them not to have to rush to get to the meeting. That was Pedro’s innovation. He was pretty proud of it.

And honestly, he needed that time today just to sit in the hallway and get his head on straight.

During breaks and all through lunch, He’d been debating with Ben and John about what to do about the video they made yesterday. Claudio had adopted a “fuck it, do what you want” attitude and exempted himself from the conversation. The only person who really had a consistent opinion was John, who felt pretty strongly that they should post it. Ben and Pedro kept waffling. The video probably was a little too obvious, but they really could use some advice, and sometimes it was good to just get things out there, and it  _was_  presented hypothetically (as if anyone could forget), but really, how “hypothetical” was it?

Pedro buried his hands in his hair. This train of thought had circled around his head so many times, he was starting to believe he was incapable of focusing on anything else. He kept trying to think about fundraising for the next school dance, or his history project with Bea that they’d be presenting on Thursday, or his trig homework, and nothing caught on in his head.

He barely noticed someone sitting down next to him. He looked up. It was Balthazar. Pedro felt weirdly tingly all of a sudden, but it was probably because Balthazar showed up so suddenly just now after avoiding him for weeks.

Balthazar said nothing, and he looked unsure of what he should do, or whether he should even be there, but he was obviously concerned.

Pedro opened his mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say, but really, he was so grateful for his friend’s presence that he was likely to start crying.

Balthazar laid a reassuring hand on Pedro’s knee, and Pedro knew that he didn’t need to say anything. He realized that what he really needed was someone to be there for him who didn’t expect him to have the answers, who didn’t even need to ask the questions. And Balthazar had always been the kind of person whose presence meant a lot more than his words. In what was meant to be a gesture of gratitude, Pedro laid his own hand over Balthazar’s, but the gesture suddenly felt about ten times more intimate than he’d intended.

He looked over to Balthazar, who was staring at their joined hands, his expression a strange combination of wistful, disbelieving, and… hungry. He flexed his fingers upward, and Pedro’s fingers slipped between and laced together with them in a way that felt warm and comforting and surprisingly natural.

And now they were staring at each other, and something was tugging from behind Pedro’s ribs, and he quite suddenly realized that he was mere moments away from kissing his best friend.

That realization hit him hard. His brain went all fuzzy and he panicked and looked down and dropped Balthazar’s hand. Several moments passed. He heard Balthazar letting out a long, ragged breath. He kept thinking maybe he should say something but he couldn’t.

Balthazar stood and and walked away, leaving only emptiness behind him.

A minute later, Pedro realized he was late to the meeting.

* * *

He had little recollection of the meeting, despite having run it. The history project work session with Bea that followed was likewise a blur. He was also pretty sure that none of his work on his trig homework was right, but he couldn’t be bothered with going over it again. He went to bed early, but spent hours just staring at the ceiling, not even thinking about anything, really, just…

His head felt so jammed full he couldn’t even sort through what was in it. When he did fall asleep, he dreamed he was sitting in the hallway with Balthazar again, only he didn’t get scared and back out. He woke up with his lips still tingling.

He tried to convince himself that it was just a weird moment between friends. Well, sort of friends. He still didn’t know why Balthazar had been avoiding him lately, a fact that still bugged him almost constantly. And to go from that to… whatever had happened yesterday was just bizarre. But what he  _told_  himself was that it was just a weird moment between friends.

But then he got to school, and caught a glimpse of Balthazar in the hallway and felt an immediate shock in his stomach. Throughout the day, he found himself humming remembered bits of Balthy’s music, and randomly musing over how much he liked his hair—like it was wayward and kinda spiky, but it also looked really soft, like it would feel really good to have your fingers in it.

By the end of second period, he had to admit it to himself: he was in the midst of a pretty serious crush.

Which didn’t make any sense. Pedro was straight. He liked girls. He’d dated three of them, and pretty consistently found them attractive. He was generally cool with other people being gay, but had never once considered that he might be himself.

But by lunch time, he decided his soul-searching over his own sexuality would work itself out eventually. Maybe he was bi? Maybe he was generally straight, but Balthazar was a weird anomaly? It probably didn’t matter. The more urgent matter was that Balthazar was still avoiding him, and Pedro suspected that yesterday’s incident had pushed him even further into hiding.

He was pondering all this over lunch as the debate over whether to post the video continued. Only now that Pedro had effectively dropped out as well, it was left to a persistent John and an ultimately persuadable Ben. They decided to put it up, and Pedro took a moment to wonder vaguely if that was something he should have an opinion on.

* * *

"Pedro, I really don’t have time to talk right now—"

"Please, Ursula, I just need to—" Pedro let out a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think—I think I might not be… entirely straight?"

That got Ursula’s attention. “It’s Balthazar, isn’t it?”

"How’d you—?"

"Listen, I really do need to hurry, I’ve got a meeting with the photography club. And anyway, I don’t know how much I can help you on this one. There are some things you just need to figure out for yourself."

She hurried off.

Well, that was completely unhelpful.

As if on cue, Balthazar passed by, and all Pedro could do was stare and wonder how the hell he’d gotten here. He’d always admired Balthazar. Who wouldn’t? But somehow he’d gotten to a place where he looked at Balthazar and thought…  _my god, you’re perfect._

Not perfect as in faultless, but perfect as in every detail of the way he was—from his messy hair to his fidgety hands to the way he smiled to himself as he sang to the way he often looked down, but sometimes looked up and caught you with this startling honesty in his eyes—everything about him was exactly the way it should be.

Balthazar saw Pedro then, and quickly averted his eyes, as had become his habit, but then did a double-take. Maybe he had caught the way Pedro was seeing him differently. There was something confused and disbelieving in the way Balthazar looked at him now, and Pedro wondered just how much he could communicate without words, if it was possible to say just how much had changed in the past twenty-four hours just by staring hard enough.

He wasn’t sure if he could. Balthazar passed without a word. Pedro changed and went to football practice, hoping that some strenuous physical activity would help with some of this pent-up frustration.

**Author's Note:**

> After writing this one, I realized that Pedro and Balthazar haven't spoken to each other at all in this series. That's interesting. I'm not sure what's gonna happen with this series. I just keep kinda writing within the same sequence of events, and I kinda wonder if I set it up for canonballing with this one. But I'll just wait and see.


End file.
